Dr.
John Vanderslice
Office:
Thompson 338
Office
phone: 450-3653
Office
hours: MWF: 11-2, TTH 9:30-10:30
E-mail: johnv@mail.uca.edu
UCA
Policy on Disablities: It
is the policy of UCA to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to
federal and state law. Any
student with a disability is encouraged to contact the Disabled Student Services
office which is located in the Student Center basement.
The phone number is 501-450-3135.
UCA
Policy on Sexual Harassment: Sexual
harassment by any faculty member, staff member, or student is a violation of
both law and university policy and will not be tolerated at the University of
Central Arkansas. Individuals
who believe they have been subjected to sexual harassment should report the
incident promptly to their academic dean or to a departmental supervisor or
directly to the university’s Affirmative Action officer, legal counsel or
assistant vice president for human resources.
Materials:
Steps
to Writing Well with Additional Readings,
6th ed. (STWW) by Jean Wyrick
Good, college-level, portable dictionary (e.g.,
Webster's,
American Heritage)
Spiral notebook for
journal
Course
description:
College Writing is a course designed to improve your fluency with written and
spoken English as well as to make you a more astute reader of your own work and
the work of others. To this end,
you will write essays and read a number of essays.
Writing will be presented as a multi-layered process which includes
prewriting strategies and drafting. You
will invent and revise, interact with other writers in small group discussions
and peer review sessions, and practice the skill of reading with an eye toward
improving your own writing.
Reading
Assignments (or How to Use a Syllabus): You are
required to read
Major
Papers:
In this course, you will complete one short descriptive paper, a short
dialogue assignment, two full length essays—a personal narrative and a
critique of an argument—and a persuasive speech.
In the latter part of the semester you will present the speech to the
class.
These
papers should be typed or word processed, double-spaced, with a conventional
margin (one inch) on all sides. I
prefer that you use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman or Bookman.
Your font size should be 12 point. Every
paper must include a cover page with your name, the course name, the title of
the essay, and the date it was handed in. Finally,
all papers must be stapled together when turned in.
As the writer, it is your responsibility—and I would hope your
desire—to make your papers seem as neatly put together as possible. This can only help your grade.
Peer
review:
For as long as there have been writers, they have exchanged their work
and responded to each other's work. It
is a healthy, constructive habit, one which we will foster in this class.
Not only is peer review a standard practice of working, professional
writers—who, after all, students ought to emulate—but it's simply a fact of
life that
Peer
review drafts should be typed and as long, or nearly as long, as the minimum
requirement for the final draft.
If a student does not arrive in time for the start of peer review or does not bring a paper, the student will not be allowed to participate in peer review and will be counted as absent.
Paper
editing:
The grades you receive on your papers are the grades I feel they would
deserve if these papers had no spelling or grammatical errors.
Earning those grades, therefore, is contingent upon you fixing all the
noted errors. For the sake of
everyone's convenience, on the days that I hand back graded papers the class
will break into small editing groups. In
those groups, you will help each other correct the grammatical or spelling
errors I have pointed out. Make
sure to bring a portable, college-level
Second
drafts:
After the peer review sessions are completed—and before you turn in the second
draft of a paper—you should revise the paper to take into consideration the
concerns addressed in the peer review sessions. For instance, if the peer review sessions for the narrative
paper deal with purpose, characterization, and dialogue, then you should revise
the paper to improve your characterization, increase the amount of relevant
dialogue, and better impart a sense of purpose to the narrative.
When you turn in to me the second draft of each paper, you must also
turn in 1) a (one page, typed) statement explaining what changes you made as a
result of peer review, and 2) your peer review draft.
I won't grade the paper without both of these.
Final
portfolio:
More instructions will come later but for the essentials are this: the final
portfolio will contain 1) a cover letter (3 pages, typed) and 2) further
revisions of the two of the papers you turned in during the course of the
semester. Specifically, you may
revise two of the following: the description paper, the narrative, or the
critique. (The speech will not be
returned in time for you to revise for the final portfolio.)
Along with the newly revised versions of two papers, you must turn in a.)
the earlier version which I graded and commented on (make sure my comments are
attached), and b) a one page typed statement for each revision explaining what
you were trying to accomplish with that revision.
Journal:
You are required to have a separate spiral notebook (roughly
81/2" X
In-class
exercises:
You are required to complete every in-class exercise we introduce in class.
When I check your journals I should easily locate every in-class
exercise the class worked on since last I checked.
If entries are missing, the journal grade will be lowered.
If you miss a class in which we write in our journals you should find out
from me or a classmate what the in-class writing entailed and make it up on your
own before the next journal check. Please
write “In-class entry # _______” and the date before every in-class entry.
I should be able to tell from any given entry that you took the writing
seriously, that you threw yourself into the in-class exercise.
If you wrote little or next-to-nothing during an in-class exercise you
will get no credit for that entry.
Private
writing: You
may fill these pages with any kind of writing at all: thoughts, problems,
gripes, bits of poetry, unsent letters, song lyrics, descriptions of weekend
trips or fights with girlfriends or how you want to redecorate your apartment.
Whatever.
Important
note: Class
notes from this or any other class do not count as private writing.
Rough drafts of papers for this or any other class do not count as
private writing.
All
journal entries must be handwritten into the journal book.
I will not accept computer printouts or any other kind of papers simply
stuffed inside, or anything glued or stapled. I expect you to keep up with
your journals without my constantly
Last
Note: To be
of any benefit to you as a writer and person journal writing should be an
on-going, semester-long enterprise—not something crammed in at the last
minute. Therefore, I cannot credit
you for more than 15 pages of private writing in the second half of the
semester. Nor will I, at the second
check date, give you credit for in-class exercises which were supposed to be
completed in the first half of the semester.
Talking
Points: Throughout the semester we will be reading and discussing
selected chapters and essays in our textbook. You will turn in response papers
for each reading assignment. Rather
than discursive and essay-like, these responses will be talking points.
Each response should include ten talking points total. By a
talking point, I mean an observation, question, or analytical point which you
want to raise or think would be worth raising in a class discussion about that
reading. (For example: “Are
subjective descriptions less reliable than objective descriptions, or are all
descriptions unreliable?” or “The textbook tells me to limit the scope of my narrative.
Does that mean only to narrate a single day even if I’m writing about a
vacation that lasted a week?” or “I can see how Maya Angelou focuses and
intensifies her descriptions when she’s inside of Mrs. Flower’s house.”)
Your talking points should demonstrate thoughtfulness and should prove
to me that you’ve read the entire reading assignment.
Make sure to include Talking Points about any essays included in the
reading assignment. If a Talking
Points paper contains fewer than ten talking points, or if I find some of the
talking points irrelevant, silly, or otherwise unacceptable, you will receive
only half-credit or no credit for that paper.
We
have nine reading assignments on the schedule.
You may skip a Talking Points paper one time during the course of
the semester without penalty. Thus,
eight Talking Points papers are due by the end of the semester.
Late paper policy: All
papers and drafts are due at the beginning of class on
Description,
dialogue, narration, argument critique, and speech papers:
If the second draft of one of these papers is turned in one class period late
the paper will be downgraded by 10%. No
second draft will be accepted more than one class period late.
Talking Points: If
you miss a class when a Talking Points paper is due, you should turn in the
Talking Points the next class period. The
Talking Points will be accepted but the best grade you can get in this case is a
half-credit. No Talking
Points papers will be accepted more than one class period late.
Absences:
Regular attendance is necessary for you to learn and grow as a writer; it is
also, quite simply, a requirement of the class.
No student should miss more than 5 classes.
Every absence above five will result in a reduction of 50 points
from your semester grade. Also,
frequent, excessive lateness to class is decidedly frowned upon and will affect
your grade. Finally, no student
should leave a class early without prior permission.
Doing so will count as an absence.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious academic offense.
All writing handed in to me must be the student's own work.
If a student submits an essay or assignment written by someone else, that
student will automatically receive an F for the course.
Points:
Description
100
Dialogue
100
Narrative
100
Argument
critique
100
Speech
100
Talking Points
400 @40 each
Journal
400
Peer Review
400
Final
portfolio
300
Grades: Possible semester grades for this course are A, B, C, D, and
F.
Semester
schedule--subject to change.
8/20
Introduction to course.
8/23
Debunking ideas about writing.
8/25
Word choice and the value of specificity.
8/27
Word choice continued.
8/30
Word choice continued. STWW:
“Still Learning from My Mother” by Cliff
Schneider (319-20), “A Day at the Theme Park” by W. Bruce Cameron
(587-88),
and “In the Land of Coke-Cola” by William Least Heat-Moon (590-92).
9/1
Word choice continued.
9/3
The Narrative. STWW, Ch. 12.
9/6
LABOR DAY
9/8
Description paper due.
Continue discussing narrative.
9/10
Characterization in narrative.
9/13
Dialogue in narrative.
9/15
Dialogue exercise due.
9/17
Beginning and ending your narrative.
9/20
Continue discussing narrative. STWW: “38 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the
Police” by Martin Gansberg (593-95) and “Beauty: When the Other
Dancer is the
Self”by Alice Walker (606-11).
9/22
Editing of description paper. Bring
dictionary.
9/24
Prewriting your narrative.
9/27
Typed draft of narrative due.
Peer review.
9/29
Peer review concludes.
10/1
Editing of dialogue exercise. Bring
dictionary. Also begin to discuss
10/4
Second draft of narrative due.
10/6
Argumentation continued. STWW,
Ch. 10 pp. 273-82. (Stop at
“Logical
10/8
Argumentation continued. Logical
fallacies. STWW, Ch. 10 pp. 282-87.
Journals check.
10/11
Argumentation continued. STWW:
Opposing essays: “Restrictions Overreach”
and “Reasonable Limits are Good” (292-94).
10/13 Discuss argument critique. Bring chosen newspaper editorial to class.
10/15 FALL BREAK
10/18
Peer editing of narrative. Bring
dictionary.
10/20
Prewriting your critique.
10/22
Typed
draft of critique due. Peer review.
10/25
Beginning an argumentative/persuasive (or expository) essay.
STWW, Ch. 4, 79-82. Editing of narrative papers.
10/27 Ending an argumentative/persuasive (or expository) essay.
STWW, Ch. 4 82-87.
10/29 Second
draft of critque due. Argumentation
continued. Coming up with
topics
and analyzing topics.
11/1
Preparing your
argumentative/persuasive speech.
11/3
Preparing your argumentative/persuasive speech.
11/5
Preparing your argumentative/persuasive speech.
11/8
Argumentative/persuasive speech due.
Speeches begin.
11/10
Speeches continue.
11/12
Speeches continue.
11/15
Speeches continue.
11/17
Speeches continue.
11/19
Speeches continue.
11/22
Speeches continue.
11/24
THANKSGIVING
11/26
THANKSGIVING
11/29
Speeches continue.
12/1
Second draft of speech due.
Journals due.
Editing of critique. Bring
dictionary.
12/3
No class. Reading day for exams.
Final portfolio due at the beginning of our final exam
period. Journals will be returned
at that time as well as speeches. We
will conduct editing on the speeches.
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR MAJOR PAPERS
Pick one of your favorite spots on campus.
It might be inside or outside, quiet or loud, a place where you go to be
with people or to get away from people. Whatever
your reason, go there and stay for a time.
Look, listen, touch, smell, observe.
Then write a description of this place.
In
your description use two other senses in addition to the sense of sight,
creating a full picture of this place in its fullness.
Also, your description should show some familiarity with the guidelines
established in Chapter 11 (e.g., your description should be guided by an overall
purpose). In order to make your description as vivid as possible
Your
description should be about two pages long, typed,double-spaced.
Please include a cover page with the information specified on this
syllabus.
Visit
a campus location and listen for a time. Jot
down interesting conversations you hear; specifically, conversations that
suggest a story, a story that someone would like to have further explained to
them. Listen for conversations
where people reveal themselves or something crucial about their “story” just
in what they say and how they say it. From
your notes, type up a version of one of these conversations.
This paper should be about two pages long.
Please include a cover page with the information specified on this
syllabus.
Write
a personal essay in which you relate a memorable episode.
Keep in mind the suggestions which the book makes on how to write
successful narration and, most importantly, the elements of narration which we
emphasize in class, such as using dialogue and specific sensory detail to
develop place, character, and situation. Make
sure that you narrate a specific event that happened at a specific
time and specific place; don’t talk generally and generically about
what your childhood or adolescence was like, and don’t try to narrate whole
months or years. You can’t do that well in a limited length assignment.
As the book says, limit your scope.
Better to go deeply and descriptively into a single episode.
Also remember that most good narratives begin in medias res, i.e.,
in the middle of the action. Try
to open your narrative essay with action already happening; fill the reader in
on necessary background information as you proceed.
The
paper should be 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced. Please include a cover page with the information specified on
this syllabus.
In
this segment we will be learning about the principles of argumentation and
looking at some argumentative essays to see if they work and why (or why not).
For your paper, I want you to locate an essay which appears on the
editorial page(s) of the Echo, the Log Cabin, the Democrat-Gazette,
or the Arkansas Times. The
editorial page is a separate part of the paper—often at the end of the first
section—in which writers take a position on some current, controversial topic,
whether it be local or national. (In
other words, they write argumentative essays.)
Do not choose a regular news article or any article, in fact, outside
the editorial page. That will
not work because it will not be an argumentative essay.
Do not choose a letter from a reader to the editor.
These are usually very short, too short to conduct a full analysis on.
Do not choose an essay which appeared in some other source besides the
newspapers listed above. Do
choose an
Using
the principles of argumentation which are outlined in the textbook, and the
format for a critique—which we will discuss in class—write a critique of the
editorial essay. In this assignment
I will be looking for a fairly specific overall structure.
Your paper ought to include: a) an introduction (1 paragraph), b.) a
summary of the editorial (2 paragraphs), c.) an analysis of the argument (4-5
paragraphs) d.) a personal response (1 paragraph), and e.) a conclusion (1
paragraph). The core of the critique will be your analysis.
In your analysis I want you to very deliberately cover and comment on
five specific aspects of argumentation: tone, audience awareness, logic,
evidence, and awareness of opposing positions.
(We will discuss all these aspects, and look at examples, in class.) I
want to see a focused commentary on these specific five aspects of argumentation
as they appear (or don't) in the editorial.
In short, you are going to tell me how well the editorial works as an
argumentative piece. Realize, then,
that the point of the critique is not to debate the issue of the
editorial with the writer but to come to a decision on how well argued the
editorial is. What your
decision is should be reflected in your thesis statement.
Said another way, you are going to be commenting on the author's performance,
not (except in the personal response section of your paper) on the merits of his
or her position. It is perfectly
possible that you will disagree with the author's position on the issue and yet
still be able to show me with your critique that his editorial is well written,
his position well argued.
The
paper should be 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced. Please include a cover page with the information specified on
this syllabus.
Choose
a subject of local interest and/or controversy and write a 3 page, typed,
double-spaced, persuasive speech. The
speech will be read aloud by you to the class.
Try to make your speech as persuasive as possible, while at the same time
being fair—or at least seeming fair. Keep
in mind the principles of good argumentation that the textbook points out and
which we cover in class. For
instance, keep in mind the power of the emotional appeal (especially useful in
speeches), and too the importance of recognizing and adequately refuting an
opponent’s position. You may want
to follow the “Rogerian technique” outlined in the textbook, in which you
try not to overthrow an opponent’s position but to find useful common ground
with your opponent. Your speech
might then assert a course of action that would be both beneficial and
acceptable to all sides in the given controversy.
By
“local interest” I mean the speech should address a UCA, Conway, Little
Rock, or statewide issue. In order
to make your speech authoritative you may need to do some research first.
This may or may not mean heading to the library.
It could mean talking to UCA professors, staff, or administrators.
It could mean surveying your fellow students. It might mean talking to a local teacher or professional.
It might mean talking to the governor.
On the day you are scheduled to deliver your speech you
must turn in a typed, full-length draft. Typically,
three students per day will deliver speeches.
After all three students have delivered their speeches for that day, the
whole class will discuss what was and wasn’t positive about the speeches, how
they might be improved. This
discussion will serve as peer review for your speech.
At the end of each class, I will give the drafts back to the students.
Important
note:
Presenting your written speech to the class is a requirement for this paper.
If you do not present your speech on the date scheduled you will receive
no credit for the assignment.